Family and Friends

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

RIP Infanta Alicia (1917-2017)

RIP Infanta Alicia, Duchess of Calabria (1917-2017). I had hoped she
would make her 100th birthday on 13 November but it was not to be.
Extremely significant genealogically, she was the heiress of the Kings
of Navarre as well as of Edward the Confessor and David I of Scotland, a
distinction now born by her grandson Pedro Duke of Noto (b 1968) as her
son Carlos (1938-2015) predeceased her. Daughter of Elias Duke of Parma (1880-1959) and Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1882-1940), she married Infante Alfonso Duke of Calabria (1901-1964), nephew and onetime heir presumptive (1904-07) of King Alfonso XIII who after 1960 was one of the two claimants to the throne of the Two Sicilies. In addition to the late Carlos they had two daughters, who survive her.

Born in Austria-Hungary
when her similarly long-lived aunt Zita (1892-1989) was still its Empress, Infanta Alicia had been the
oldest living member of any European royal family (possibly any). With
her death there are no more royals born before the end of World War I; I
believe the comparatively obscure Duchess Woizlawa of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Princess Reuss (b 17 December 1918) is now the
oldest.